Marc LiVecche

Here is a transcript of Marc LiVecche’s lecture on Christianity and war for the Oxford C.S. Lewis Society.

Today should be a reminder, especially, perhaps, to Christians, that sometimes fights need to be fought. We worship a God who mandated governments to use the sword to deploy violent action, in the last resort and in measures sufficient to win the fight, when nothing but proportionate and discriminate force will protect the innocent, take back what has been unjustly taken, or punish sufficiently grave evil.

Westminster Abbey recently held a commemorative service to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Royal Navy submariners’ continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent, carrying the Trident nuclear missile system. Some Christian anti-nuclear activists were unhappy.

Cultivating the garden of world order includes tending to the tasks that uphold public safety, execute justice and promote human flourishing.

Among much else, the demise of The Weekly Standard reminds us of the importance of a democratic citizenry armed with the willingness and capacity to engage with great works of history, fiction, art, and philosophy.

Marc LiVecche is grateful to Amy Fallas for responding to his essay discussing the death of John Allen Chau. But he’s not entirely convinced she’s advanced the conversation all that much. Rather than challenge anything the essay said, LiVecche thinks she has confirmed it.

John Allen Chau’s martyrdom provokes questions about the role religion plays in relations between peoples and about encounters between the West and developing cultures.

Peter Jackson’s They Shall Not Grow Old harnesses all the power of Middle Earth to celebrate the men who fought the Great War

Regardless of the risks, every free nation in the world should be climbing over one another to be the first to offer Asia Bibi sanctuary.

A century ago, the Great War ended. Remembrance Day is an opportunity to recall those who fought, the fallen, and the costs and sometimes necessity of war.